Little Richard will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his 1957 debut LP 'Here's Little Richard' with a deluxe reissue with alternate takes and demos.

Courtesy of Specialty Archives

Little Richard will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his debut LP Here’s Little Richard with a deluxe reissue that pairs the original 1957 album with a disc full of alternate takes and demos.

Eight of the 22 tracks found on Here’s Little Richard (60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)‘s are unreleased, including never-before-heard takes on “Ready Teddy,” “Rip It Up” and “Slippin’ and Slidin'” from the original recording sessions.

One of the standouts is an electrifying alternate take of “Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave,” a deep-album cut that eventually came out as the B side to “Keep A-Knockin’.” The previously unreleased version, premiering here, finds Richard overpowering his vocal mic (which is probably why it wasn’t selected for the album version) but it’s so raw and unwieldy when compared to the (only slightly more) subdued LP cut that it’s a bonafide lost rock & roll gem.